SC: Online monitoring will lead to surveillance state

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Tapping of citizens’ Whatsapp messages by the government will be like creating a surveillance state... We will list the matter before opening of the tender SUPREME COURT BENCH

NEW DELHI: The information & broadcasting ministry’s plan to set up a hub to monitor activity on social media would create a “surveillance state”, the Supreme Court observed on Friday as it issued notice to the government.

“Tapping of citizens’ Whatsapp messages by the government will be like creating a surveillance state,” observed justice DY Chandrachud, who is part of three-judge bench hearing the case. Chief justice of India Dipak Misra and justice AM Khanwilkar are the two other members of the bench.

The court listed the matter for hearing on August 3 after the petitioner, Trinamool Congress (TMC) legislator Mahua Moitra, said the government had floated tenders for supply of software for the project with a deadline of August 20.

The bench also sought Attorney General KK Venugopal’s assistance in the matter.

Senior advocate AM Singhvi, appearing for Moitra, said the government wants to “monitor social media content with the help of this social media hub.”

“We will list the matter before opening of the tender,” the bench said.

Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Limited (BECIL), a public sector company under the I&B ministry, floated the tender to supply software for the project.

A technology platform is needed to collect digital media chatter from all core social media platforms as well as digital platforms such as news sites and blogs “in a single system providing real-time insights, metrics and other valuable data,” the tender document says.